DETROIT – When Peter Forsberg wasn’t
able to play down the
stretch of the regular season
at Minnesota on March 30 because
of his ankl … er, groin problem,
Avalanche coach Joel Quenneville
took a simple route, hoping to
minimize the effects on line combinations
he believed were working well.

Quenneville simply reinserted the previously scratched Jaroslav Hlinka in the lineup, plugged him into Forsberg’s left-wing spot and left the other three lines intact.

It created the somewhat strange sight of Hlinka, the veteran of Czech hockey, but an NHL rookie, going from a) not suiting up, to b) playing on the “first” line with Paul Stastny and Milan Hejduk. At the time, Ryan Smyth was a bit in the doghouse, but when he slid to the third line with Tyler Arnason and David Jones, the combination clicked.

Faced with the same situation Thursday when Forsberg couldn’t go in what turned out to be the Avalanche’s 4-3 loss to the Red Wings in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals, Quenneville chose a different course.

He had Cody McCormick, a healthy scratch in the final seven regular-season and first six playoff games, suit up and start on the fourth line with Ben Guite and Ian Laperriere. Left wing Cody McLeod moved up to the third line with Arnason and Jones.

Quenneville tinkered with the lines occasionally through the Minnesota series, primarily sliding around the left wings, so it’s not as if he was painting a moustache on the Mona Lisa. And when Wojtek Wolski suffered an injury on his fifth shift and was done for the night, that necessitated further shuffling and led to the Avalanche at various stages setting an unofficial record for the most “Cody Macs” on one line — with McLeod and McCormick on the Arnason-centered line.

“We had energy,” Quenneville said after the game. “We’ve got Ryan Smyth playing with Paul and (Hejduk), was an easy option. Cody McLeod, no matter who he plays with, that line’s effective, (with) one more forechecker. Hlinka’s a good option and I think that was part of the decision. We like when we have tough decisions like that.

“I thought against this team, you want to get pressure in on them the best we can, and I think Cody (McCormick) did a good job tonight.”

It’s impossible to specify the effects of the decision, or to say how things would have gone if Hlinka, a crafty if relatively nonphysical veteran of European play, had suited up and played left wing — on one of the top three lines.

But Quenneville might have gotten too caught up in the possibility of the series turning combative, or at least with the need for physical play from the fourth line, and going with Hlinka would have been a better choice.

McCormick was on the ice for the Red Wings’ first goal, but he ended playing a shade over eight minutes and even was a part of one third-period siege that made Detroit — with its lead whittled to one — sweat.

“They kind of hinted at it at the morning skate, so you just have to prepare for the game like you’re going into it,” said McCormick, 25, who had an injury-plagued season and played 13 games with the Lake Erie Monsters of the AHL.

He hadn’t played a game since March 20, and he knew that the last time this had come up, Hlinka played instead. “It’s their decisions, and you never know,” McCormick said. “You just have to be ready. We have a lot of guys who are here working hard in practices who are game-ready.

“I think it took like a couple of shifts to get the timing down, and I thought I played better as the game went along.”

The poignant aspect of this was that McCormick, whose parents are members of different Canadian native tribes, made his NHL playoff debut not far from his home in Mount Brydges, Ontario.

“It’s something you’ll always remember, especially coming into the Joe Louis Arena, two hours from home, being so close to it,” he said. “And with all the history the two teams have, it’s mind-blowing.”

McCormick wasn’t the problem Thursday night. Wolski’s availability is up in the air, too, but if Forsberg or Wolski isn’t able to go Saturday in Game 2, Quenneville should give Plan B — Hlinka — a shot.

A graduate of Wheat Ridge High School and the University of Colorado, Terry Frei has been named a state's sportswriter of the year six times -- three times each in Oregon and Colorado. He mainly covers college football and hockey for The Post. He's the author of seven books, including the novel "Olympic Affair" about Colorado's Glenn Morris, the 1936 Olympic decathlon champion.